"I've seen what this meant to the families of Anita Martini and Neil Hohlfeld, and it's had more of an impact on me," Brown said. "They were good friends, and it's nice to be in that company."

As the season winds down, Brown faces a busy offseason that will include work on a book commemorating the Astros' 50th-anniversary season.

Brown has worked for several months on the book, which will include about 300 photos from the history of the Colt .45s and Astros. He also hopes to publish an e-book version that will include taped highlights from Elston, the team's play-by-play announcer through 1986.

The work, the honor and the anticipation of things to come will provide ample gratification for his silver-anniversary season, which has fallen short of expectations.

"One thing you understand when you're lucky enough to have the same job for 25 years is that there will be years like this," Brown said. "It's part of the package, and it reinforces that you have to love the sport and accept the different kind of seasons that go along with it."

Onions on that?

I'm not going to mention names, but a local sports entrepreneur Thursday wagered me a Whataburger that Texas A&M stays in the Big 12. I took the bet and dared him to up it to two Whataburgers. He agreed.

That set me to wondering if it was possible the Aggies might stay with the Big 12 after another week of confusion and dueling rumors and developments that brought to one man's mind Judges 21:25: "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

By now, you've likely guessed that I'm talking about CBS' Spencer Tillman, the only football analyst who can discuss theology or philosophy as adeptly as the zone-read offense or cover-two defense.

The Bible verse, Tillman said, "described the chaos of the time, and it mirrors what we see today. To describe it as tectonic shifts and pendulum swings would be an understatement."

I mentioned my burger bet, and Tillman thinks I could lose. I don't, but who knows?

"I think there is an outside chance that A&M could stand down," he said. "Now that Texas has said we're willing to do balanced revenue sharing, why would they not be willing to stay? Sure, there's hard feelings. But there's hard feelings between Oklahoma and Texas. And that is going to get more tenuous. It makes the rivalry more intense. And I can tell you that A&M is not going to want any part of the SEC West as long as (Nick) Saban and (Les) Miles are there."

Docs on the pond

Two worthwhile sports-related documentaries coming up are CNN's In Her Corner: Latino in America, which focuses on Houston boxer Marlen Esparza, at 7 p.m. Sunday and Catching Hell, Enron documentarian Alex Gibney's long-awaited film about Steve Bartman, which premieres at 7 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN.

Esparza, who hopes to compete in the London Olympics, the first in which women's boxing will be a medal sport, attended a screening of the film Wednesday at Rice University with CNN anchorSoledad O'Brien, who hosts the film.

O'Brien said CNN spent a year following Esparza, focusing on her relationship with family members and her coach, Rudy Silva, as she attempts to qualify for the 2012 Games at the USA Boxing Olympic Trials next spring.

Gibney, who directed Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, is a Red Sox fan, so there's a lot of linkage between Bartman, the fan who deflected a foul ball that Cubs outfielder Moises Alouattempted to catch during Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS between the Cubs and Marlins, and Bill Buckner, the unfortunate Red Sox scapegoat of the 1986 World Series.

Bartman declined to be interviewed, so Gibney relies on himself, discussing the game during a WGN Radio sports talk show, and interviews with Alou, fans sitting near Bartman, and the security guards who escorted him from Wrigley Field to carry the film. He also worked with ESPN to obtain a digital stripdown of one camera angle, removing everybody except Bartman and Alou from the frame, to indicate the degree to which Bartman interfered with Alou.

Sunday viewing

For the second time this season, CBS is sending Greg GumbelandDan Dierdorfto a Texans game, a noon start Sunday at New Orleans on KHOU (Channel 11). KRIV (Channel 26) gets Giants-Eagles at noon and Packers-Bears at 3:15 p.m. … With the 3:15 p.m. window to themselves Sunday, the Texans-Dolphins game racked up a 26.7 Nielsen rating and 45 share on Channel 11. The total audience for the game was 945,000 viewers, making it the most-watched show in Houston and among the dozen most-viewed shows in any market in the nation for the week ending Sunday.